Harry Potter: The Starry Correspondent
by porpierita
Summary: My first Harry Potter fan fic. Oneshot. Hermione slash Draco or known as DHr. Slight romance. Hermione Granger gets a secret gift from Draco Malfoy. They secretly share a smile, both knowing what is headed for their relationship. Please read and review!


**The Starry Correspondent**

_**By porpierita**_

**A/N: Okay, a pretty crappy first Harry Potter oneshot fan fic of mine. I rushed writing it, so don't expect too much.**

Hermione Granger woke up with a start when a snowball hit her window. She turned around, watching the snow fall thickly from the pale, winter sky. The flakes settled into the Hogwarts grounds, with Hagrid shuffling out of his hut, shouldering his crossbow.

Christmas break was already here, and it was proven when she looked towards the foot of her four-poster bed, where a pile of presents was sitting, untouched. The rest of the girls in her dormitory were already gone, so she was alone. Hermione sat up with a smile on her face, staring at the colored boxes, debating which to open first.

She picked up the largest one, unwrapping it to find a set of new books from Harry. These were the ones she had been eyeing in Flourish and Blotts, but unable to buy because of the price—expensive, even for Harry himself. Grinning, she moved on to the next present, a lumpy package. It turned out to be a beige Weasley jacket, with an 'H' sewed onto the front, complete with wand, brandishing a spell instead of the Snitch Harry always got, or the plain letters the Weasleys received.

The rest of her presents included the newest Colgate toothpaste from her parents, complete with a packet of sugar-free sweets; a big box of Fred and George's Skiving Snackboxes; some Rock Cakes from Hagrid, which Hermione would not touch; dozens of Chocolate Frogs from Ron; and a journal diary from Ginny Weasley. Hermione knew that other rich people like Draco Malfoy may have gotten more presents, but these little gifts meant to her more than anyone could have imagined.

Then her eye caught a small box, neatly wrapped in teal green, having fallen on the floor during her present opening session. She picked it up carefully, looking for a note or card. She found none. Hermione muttered a few spells over it to check for jinxes or Dark Magic, or if the box was harmful in any way. Finding nothing, she shrugged and decided to open it. Peeling aside the wrapping paper and opening the box underneath, she found a new pair of scarlet gloves—which had an inner surface of silky satin, and an outer layer of dragon hide. Hermione had seen them previously in Twilfitt and Tatting's whilst passing by, for an outrageously expensive price.

She tried them on, but squealed and pulled the gloves off quickly when she felt something in each of the gloves. Prying her finger into the left glove, Hermione found, to her surprise, a small glittery snowflake pendant, with a ring around the flake. Further inspection revealed that the ring was actually a serpent, with golden-red eyes that shone like jewels, embedded into it.

Hermione frowned. Reaching into the right glove, drawing out a note. The handwriting was thin and slanting, but bold in the ink itself, like as if the person was smug and confident with him or herself.

_The best gloves you can possibly buy. Books would be boring, as you would no doubt have received many already._

_Your starry correspondent._

Hermione was stunned. _Starry correspondent? _What on earth did that mean? Still, she liked the gloves a lot, especially the pendant. She put on her Weasley sweater, and then slipped the serpent and snowflake necklace around her neck, putting the pendant inside the sweater to hide it from other's views. She didn't want too many questions yet. Then Hermione placed the dragon hide and satin gloves in her suitcase and walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Reaching the Great Hall, Hermione walked over to sit in across from Harry and Ron, next to Lavender Brown. From this seat, she could see everyone in the Great Hall.

"Hermione? Are you okay? You look a bit…I dunno...funny," Harry peered at her curiously.

"Huh? Oh, nothing, it's er...nothing," she replied quickly. She didn't want to tell Harry and Ron what was on her mind.

"Hermione, what's that you're wearing?" Lavender asked, finally noticing her necklace. Hermione swore inwardly. It was now hanging lose outside in plain view, probably having fallen out of her Weasley sweater.

"It's just a present from my parents," she said and shoved it back down under her jacket. Hermione ate in silence as she listened to conversations around her. Ron was blabbing on about Quidditch to Seamus Finnegan, whilst Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom were trading insults to Snape. Harry was still eyeing her skeptically, but then returned to his pudding.

Hermione looked along the Gryffindor table. No one seemed to be paying attention to her, except the casual glances from Harry, eyeing her suspiciously. No one in Gryffindor suited the term 'starry' though. So Hermione started looking around the Great Hall.

_Could it be a Ravenclaw? _Said one thought.

_No…I don't really know anyone from Ravenclaw except the people from DA_ said another.

_Hufflepuff? How about Ernie Macmillan?_

_ Ernie? No way! He's too pompous. And he doesn't go with the 'starry' description either…_

_ Then…Slytherin?_

_ Are you kidding me? _The other thought replied. She looked at the Slytherin table. Pansy Parkinson was looking into her mirror, performing beautification charms on herself. _As if she could rid her of her pug face_, thought Hermione.

Millicent Bulstrode was shoving down her pudding, in a way that would make Crabbe and Goyle proud—who were incidentally doing the same thing. They were sitting next to Theodore Nott, who was in a hurried whispering conversation with Blaise Zabini. They had put their heads together, shielding out the one and only: Draco Malfoy.

Smug as ever—his gray eyes scanned the room lazily. He had that swaggering personality that Hermione detested, but also found engrossingly interesting. His light blonde hair glowed in the sunlight, making it look like he had an aura around him, singling him out from the others who were mostly dark haired. His pale skin that normally had a grayish tinge to it was, today, slightly pink on the cheeks from the cold and draft.

Then their eyes met for a moment. Neither drew away, knowing that if they did, that would mark them as weaker than the other. Then to Hermione's surprise, Malfoy's thin lips curled up into a little smile—half sneer and smirk, but half genuine smile.

He had caught her by surprise and Hermione, without knowing what she was doing, smiled back at him.

His eyes flashed down to her neck where she was wearing the pendant.

_How does he know? It's hidden from view!_

Malfoy raised his eyebrows inquisitively. Hermione looked down and drew out her snowflake pendant. Then she looked up at him again.

Malfoy's smile widened by a few molars and he returned to gazing around the Great Hall, ignoring her again.

Finally, Hermione smiled. _Starry correspondent,_ she thought, hiding the snowflake and snake from plain view again. _That makes sense, my starry correspondent._

And with that, Hermione returned to eating her breakfast, grinning. She was still grinning when Ron asked her what she was so happy about. She just replied, "Christmas spirits, you know?" and returned to smiling, even if it was inwardly. She knew, and she was sure, that he knew that she knew, who the 'starry correspondent' was.

**A/N: Sucks, I know. Hey, I haven't read HP in like, a century okay? I forget the details and all…mostly I do Artemis Fowl and the Bartimaeus Trilogy fan fics—I specialize in them.**

**If you don't get the Starry Correspondent thingy, it's like this: Draco is the name of a large northern constellation. It's supposed to represent the dragon killed by Hercules. That's why I put Starry Correspondent.**

**Anyways, please comment or review or whatever—they're greatly appreciated. I promise you, my other fan fics are better than this one.**

**NOTE: I'm not a strong shipper of Dramione or anything, it's just I've been getting requests for an HP fanfic and a few of my friends love Dramione, so I wrote this for them. I tend to specialize in more…plot-action-character-driven stories, not really romance hehe XD**


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